Fenestrulina granulosa Rosso & Di Martino, 2025
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1254.157989 |
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publication LSID |
lsid:zoobank.org:pub:959351D6-F778-4E6A-9AD5-97B9A190E0A7 |
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DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17237597 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/6C0CE304-BE73-53EB-9ED3-F42640AA2361 |
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treatment provided by |
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scientific name |
Fenestrulina granulosa Rosso & Di Martino |
| status |
sp. nov. |
Fenestrulina granulosa Rosso & Di Martino sp. nov.
Figs 1 View Figure 1 , 14 View Figure 14 , 22 View Figure 22 , 23 View Figure 23 ; Tables 1 View Table 1 , 3 View Table 3
Fenestrulina malusii View in CoL : Hayward 1974: table 1, pars; Hayward 1975: table 1, pars.
Type material.
Greece • Holotype ovicellate colony on a Posidonia leaf including a few dozen autozooids, without ancestrula. Mediterranean, Aegean Sea, Chios, Dhiaporia ; University College Swansea Expedition to Chios; 38°20'N, 26°00'E; 30 m depth; Aug. 1967; scuba diving. NHMUK 2009.11.2.2 About NHMUK GoogleMaps .
Diagnosis.
Fenestrulina with well-exposed lateral and proximal walls, finely granular frontal shield with a centrally located C-shaped ascopore; pseudopores mostly restricted distally in three or four rows between the orifice and ascopore, and in a single proximally incomplete peripheral row; orifice with an irregularly denticulated distal margin and a single distal spine concealed in ovicellate autozooids; ovicell endooecium finely granular except for the proximal folded rim.
Description.
Colony encrusting, multiserial, unilaminar; interzooidal communications via two proximolateral, two distolateral and one distal pore-chambers, externally visible as elongate, elliptical windows.
Autozooids ovoidal, distinct, with wide grooves in-between (Fig. 14 A – C View Figure 14 ); vertical walls gently sloping, largely exposed proximally and laterally, sometimes revealing the substrate at triple junctions (Fig. 14 C View Figure 14 ). Frontal shield moderately convex, more elevated centrally at ascopore level. Gymnocyst present only distally and laterally to the orifice. Cryptocystidean area finely granular, granules ~ 5 μm in diameter, more raised centrally, but attenuating and smaller to absent towards the margins; marked by a thin raised rim, distally lining the orifice proximally and laterally, extending up to half its length or more (Fig. 14 C View Figure 14 ), forming blunt subtriangular latero-oral extensions of variable length (39–88 μm long). Pseudopores of the frontal shield numbering 26–34, closely spaced in a single row along autozooid distal half, occasionally extending more proximally, with four, rarely three, additional irregular rows of pseudopores (18–20) between orifice and ascopore (Fig. 14 B – D View Figure 14 ). Pseudopores 26 μm in maximum dimension, on a level with frontal surface, tri- to quadrifoliate, with 3–5, occasionally more, spiny, platy or denticulate processes converging centrally but remaining unjointed (Figs 14 E View Figure 14 , 23 E View Figure 23 ). Two relatively small (38–58 μm wide), subcircular to subelliptical or larger, arched and elongate (~ 75 μm long), smoothly-rimmed cryptocystidean areas distal to the orifice, occasionally shifted laterally (Fig. 14 C, D View Figure 14 ), each bearing 1–3 pseudopores with numerous spiny processes, exposed also in ovicellate zooids (Fig. 14 C View Figure 14 ).
Primary orifice transversely D-shaped, hinge-line straight; distal rim with an irregularly denticulate shelf (Fig. 14 D View Figure 14 ). A single tiny spine (base diameter ~ 13 μm) located mid-distally to the orifice (Fig. 14 D View Figure 14 ). Spines absent in ovicellate zooids (Fig. 14 B, C View Figure 14 ), the mid-distal one remaining concealed beneath the ovicell.
Ascopore centrally placed, 119–171 μm proximal to orifice (Fig. 14 B – D View Figure 14 ), the lumen transversely C-shaped, with a strongly irregular denticulate rim, some denticles leaf-shaped with 3–5 smaller denticles; situated in a cordiform-to-reniform field of flat gymnocystal calcification with a peripheral radially ribbed band, smooth-rimmed, slightly raised proximally on the frontal shield surface; fusing with the arched proximal rim of the frontal shield when distal to an ovicell (Fig. 14 B, C View Figure 14 ).
Ovicell globular and slightly elongate, prominent, narrowing proximally, obscuring the distal part of orifice, seemingly subcleithral, produced by the distal autozooid (Fig. 14 A – C View Figure 14 ). Endooecium well calcified, finely granular, granules more prominent and more densely spaced distally, attenuating and reducing proximally to a thin (~ 20 μm), smooth tubular proximal edge; peripheral row of 14–16 subquadrangular (each 20–48 μm wide) or occasionally elongate (up to 80 μm) pores.
Ancestrula and kenozooids not observed.
Etymology.
From the Latin granulosus, meaning granular, in reference to the distinctive granular surface of both the frontal shield and the ovicell endooecium, a unique feature among all known species of the genus.
Remarks.
Fenestrulina granulosa sp. nov. resembles F. malusii in the granulation of the frontal shield and the ovicell endooecium, the shape of the pseudopores and their location restricted to the distal portion of the autozooidal frontal shield, and the raised rim demarcating the frontal cryptocystidean area from the widely exposed lateral walls. However, the two species can be readily distinguished. In F. malusii , the granules are significantly fewer and less pronounced. Additionally, F. malusii has a distinctive ascopore with a circular gymnocystal field and a smooth-rimmed lumen, the autozooids are slightly smaller and comparatively squatter, while the orifice is noticeably smaller and protected by three or four distal spines, with the proximal pair persisting in ovicellate autozooids. Granular ornamentation is rare within the genus, occurring only in F. malusii and F. granulosa sp. nov. in the Mediterranean, and in a few additional species globally. A similar granulation on both the autozooidal frontal shield and the ovicell is observed in F. antarctica Hayward & Thorpe, 1989 , a species recorded from the Palmer Archipelago, Bellingshausen Sea and Ross Sea. This species, however, differs in having stellate pseudopores in the frontal shield of very large autozooids that do not expose lateral walls and lack a cryptocystidean rim; oral spines are absent and the ovicell proximal rim joins the proximal corners of the orifice. A somewhat similar but sparser granulation on the frontal shield is present in an unnamed species from Safaga Bay (see Remarks for F. malusii ). Large, prominent, almost tubercular granules also occur on the ovicell and the proximal lobe of the tubular collar of F. personata (MacGillivray, 1883) from southern Australia and New Zealand. However, this species has a distinctively smooth frontal shield, a smooth-rimmed ascopore, sparse non-radiate pseudopores that are simple holes, the absence of such pores between the orifice and ascopore, and a distributional pattern opposite to that seen in other Fenestrulina species.
The widely exposed and gently sloping lateral walls of F. granulosa sp. nov., which reduce the contact surface between adjacent autozooids, may represent specialised adaptation to minimise colony breakage when on flexible substrates (see F. malusii ).
The studied colony was among those examined by Hayward (1974) and identified as F. malusii from six different localities around the Isle of Chios: Emborios Bay, Cape Mastika, Venetica, Kokkina, Foradhas, and Dhiaporia. Unfortunately, most of this material could not be located and therefore remains unexamined. Consequently, it remains uncertain whether all the specimens belong to F. granulosa sp. nov. or if they represent additional species.
Habitat distribution.
The only examined colony of F. granulosa sp. nov. encrusts a flexible organic substrate, specifically a Posidonia leaf (A. Herdman, pers. comm., Oct. 2024), which is heavily colonised by several bryozoan species. This aligns with the shallow-water range of the collections of the University College Swansea Expedition to Chios, as reported by Hayward (1974), which did not exceed 61 m and was predominantly within the first 50 m, encompassing the depth range of Posidonia meadows . However, owing to the grouping of stations from different localities and the limited, sporadic information on species records other than F. malusii , drawing further conclusions about the habitat is challenging. If we assume that all of Hayward’s (1974) records pertain to the same species (difficult without specimens), F. granulosa sp. nov. may also inhabit various environments, including submarine caves, rocky infralittoral habitats, and bioconstructions (possibly coralligenous habitats), in addition to Posidonia meadows and associated Pinna valves.
Geographical distribution.
Fenestrulina granulosa sp. nov. is currently known only from its type locality off Chios Island, in the north-eastern Aegean Sea. While no precise collection site is indicated, the examined colony originates from one of the sampling stations of the 1967 University College Swansea Expedition to Chios, whose material was later studied by Hayward (1974).
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.
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Schizoporelloidea |
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Fenestrulina granulosa Rosso & Di Martino
| Rosso, Antonietta, Di Martino, Emanuela, Donato, Gemma, Figuerola, Blanca, Gerovasileiou, Vasilis, Siddiolo, Chiara, Sinagra, Alessandro, Sanfilippo, Rossana & Sciuto, Francesco 2025 |
Fenestrulina malusii
| Fenestrulina malusii : Hayward 1974 |
| Hayward 1975 |